Team AGW gets tons of love on this chapter…burntcore, tkegl & mizzdee worked their magic. Chapter 8 is about to go to my pre-readers, chapter 9 is half done and I'm working on some more tomorrow, so I should be able to get a little cushion built back, plus I finally have the outline finalized so we're in good shape. Now I just need the words to come. I promise I will be posting to my other stories as soon as I'm able, but if you were around last summer, you remember I got clobbered with work and RL…and this year seems to be a repeat. I'm hoping cooler weather and cooler heads will prevail all around. Here's something with a little less in the heartfail dept…not much, but some.

Chapter 7 – Space to Think

I drove to the diner and sat at the counter, my foot tapping on the footrest of the stool. My phone was sitting on the counter, but I didn't know whom to call. Who would I be able to trust with this? And who could help me work through it? I looked up from the screen to see Dee smiling at me, a cup of coffee in her hand.

"Rough morning?" she asked as I reached for the sugar.

"Rough month," I responded and then met her eyes, glad there wasn't any judgment held in them.

"Well, I'm here if you need me, and if you need to chat. It's not the same since the Chief passed. No one comes in to chew the fat anymore."

"You talked with Charlie a lot?" I'd known Dee from a distance most of my life, but she was a central part of the town, she'd been at the Forks Diner for decades and everyone knew her.

"Oh yes. Your name came up quite a bit. How's that girl of his?"

"I don't know. That's part of the problem." Before I could continue, my phone rang and I answered it, glad to hear Emmett's voice on the other end.

"Is it true?"

"I can't talk about it here. Do you want something from the diner?"

"Tell Dee I'll take my usual. Come by the house as soon as you can."

"Sure, see you later." Dee walked past and I flagged her over. "Dee, I need a cheese omelet with bacon and toast and Emmett's usual to go."

"You want hash browns with yours?" She smiled as I nodded. "Okay, give me a few minutes, darlin', and I'll get you out of here and on your way."

It took about ten minutes before Dee was handing me a bag of food. "Thanks, Dee."

"I meant it, hon. If you need to talk, my coffee pot is always full."

I laughed at the comment, but thanked her and headed to Emmett's. He was sitting on his porch with a cup of coffee in his hand as I got out of the car.

"My parents are gone for the morning, so we're alone for a while. Let's go inside and talk."

I followed Emmett into his kitchen and we sat down with our breakfast, eating in silence for a few minutes before I spoke. "How did you hear about it?"

"Half the town knows, but my father got a call from your dad this morning after Renee's visit. He wanted to make sure she couldn't run off with Bella." Emmett looked up and then back at his food. "I caught the end of it and all he told me was that she's in the hospital. But no one knows why she's there."

"She tried to kill herself," I whispered as I pushed away from the table. "I was the one that found her."

"What? How is she?"

"I don't know; she won't talk to me." We were quiet for a long moment before I continued. "Being around me is too painful. I heard her say that to my mom yesterday. Would I…could I crash here for a while?"

"Let me check with my parents, but I'm sure they'll be okay with it."

Emmett pulled out his phone and called his father, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I wasn't sure what I was doing, and I knew all of this would upset my parents, but I couldn't push Bella anymore. I would give her what she needed.

"So they're cool, said you can stay here as long as you need." Emmett startled me out of my thoughts and I was grateful that something was going my way.

"Thanks, I'm gonna head home and get my stuff." I looked over at where he was leaning against the door frame, stewing about what I'd told him. "You want to do something when I get back?"

"Sure, you and I can chill in the basement. The whole floor is mine and I have it decked out into the ultimate man cave."

The thought of Emmett McCarty's idea of a 'man cave' was probably damn more manly than one I'd ever dream up, but I'd get used to it. It was time I hung out with some guys.

I came home to an empty house, so I set to work getting things together. I found the painting I'd asked the framers to gift wrap and the black swan figurine and put them on the hutch in the living room, knowing my mother would put them with their gift for her. My clothes were packed up and I had my laptop and Kindle in my messenger bag. I grabbed my toiletries and a few other things I'd need when I saw my sketchpad.

I rarely went anywhere without it, but after last night I couldn't bring myself to even open it. Heaving a sigh, I left it behind as I carried my bags down to the car. As I closed the trunk, my mother pulled in and got out of her car, making her way over to me.

"Edward, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to stay with Emmett for a little while."

"Why?"

I groaned, not wanting to admit to what I overheard last night, but unable to lie to her. "I heard you and Bella last night, Mom. If my being around makes her life harder, then I'll crash at Emmett's until she's in a little better mind. I can't even sleep in here because all I can think about is what happened in her room." My eyes finally met hers and it hurt to see her crying. "I need some space from everything. I'm sorry, Mom."

She took my face in her hands and looked directly into my eyes, as if it might be the last time she saw me. "You'll call me, every day?"

"I will. I love you, Mom." I pulled her close and hugged her to my chest. I hated that I was making her cry, but in the end, all of us would be better off if Bella was healthy again. And this was the only way left that I could help her.

"I love you too, son."

-,-`-

The first few days living with the McCartys felt weird, but Emmett made it interesting. News was out concerning Bella and my first couple of days in school were tough. Saturday was the end of the 72-hour observation period, and Bella was discharged from the hospital. Dr. Hyde was convinced that while Bella did inflict bodily harm with the intention of doing so, she hadn't meant to kill herself. That meant that with a more intense schedule of therapy, she could return to school in another week or so.

Renee was on a plane twelve hours after Bella was released, which wasn't surprising, but I was just happy that she wasn't considering fighting my parents anymore, or hanging around to piss Bella off like she normally did.

I was grateful that Bella was out, and that she got the small break from school. Alice volunteered to drop off her work so she wouldn't fall behind and Emmett worked to keep me busy. He'd decided after my poor showing with Jake that I needed to learn how to defend myself, and bulk up a little. He had a bunch of gym equipment in his man cave, and we went on long runs to build up my endurance.

While I thought he was crazy, keeping up with him wasn't that hard and I'd even started to enjoy it. The weights would start to give me some more muscles, which I'd need after the death stares I was getting from Black.

Today was September 13th, the hardest day by far for me to be away from Bella. It was her 17th birthday, and I didn't even know when I would see her. My only plans for that weekend were to work out with Emmett and until Bella wanted to see me, I wasn't going to push. My mom had called this morning and said that Bella's Thursday therapy session had been emotional, but she was doing better and actually spent some time talking with my mom when she got home.

Emmett told me to quit being a bitch and go home, but I couldn't get her words out of my head. Sighing, he left to pick up some food as his parents were out of town on another business trip. I was working on my new strength training exercises when there was a soft knock on the basement door. Knowing it wasn't Emmett, I assumed Rosalie was coming by to hang out with him and he'd forgotten to call her. I got up to let her in, and was stunned by who I saw standing there.

"Bella?"

"Hey," she whispered.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, not moving from the doorway.

"I could ask you the same thing," she said, rolling her eyes. "Can I come in?"

I stepped out of the way and let her walk in. "Happy Birthday," I said lamely as she leaned against the couch that sat in the middle of the room.

"Thanks, I got your presents." She looked around the room before finally making eye contact. "I would have preferred if you had been there to give them to me."

"I just wanted to give you some space."

"Why?" Her question came out fast, like she'd been waiting to ask it since she arrived.

"Bella, I…I heard you. That night. You were talking to my mom and you said it was painful to be around me, and the last thing I ever want to do is hurt you, so I packed my things and came to stay with Emmett."

"Edward," Bella started and then stopped, seeming to collect herself and choose her words carefully. "I was drugged up and a mess that night. You have to take anything that came out of my mouth with a grain of salt. I couldn't stop seeing your face in my mind when you found me…God, you looked like someone stabbed you in the heart." She paused for a second before continuing. "I never want to cause you that kind of pain and I was trying to punish myself for what I did to everyone. But I'm only hurting everyone else. Edward, your mom-"

"Will survive," I interrupted, "it won't be forever."

"No, it won't because you're coming home tonight."

Bella grabbed my hand but I didn't budge, as a hiss escaped her mouth and we both looked to see she'd grabbed me with her left hand. "Can I see it?"

Bella only nodded as I pulled up the sleeve to reveal the large bandage covering most of her arm. "I have to keep it bandaged up because of the weather. Carlisle's afraid it will get infected and I still have almost another week before they come out. Then I can go back to school on Thursday."

"You really want me to come home?" I asked again and she smiled, knowing that she was about to get what she had asked for.

"It's the only thing I really want for my birthday."

"I'll start packing and then stick around to eat with Emmett. I'll meet you at home?"

"Would you mind if I hung out? Esme drove me because I don't have a car, so I told her I'd get a ride home from you."

I laughed at her confidence in getting me to do what she wanted. "Pretty sure of yourself, aren't you?"

"I just know you'll do anything to make me happy." She smiled wistfully, her eye flashed up to meet mine again. "My hero."

My chest tightened at that memory and I tried to play it off. "Bella, I wouldn't go that fa-"

"Bullshit. Things have gotten a lot worse than a ruined crayon and yet you still manage to save the day…" She paused and took a deep breath. "To save me."